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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally spent time in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. Her rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a simple biography but utilizes her past, particularly her story of exile: after moving to the city in 1959, she was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after wedding Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with a exceptional South African singer the performer leading reviving her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, she was incarcerated for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Her father is Belgian and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the UK, where she founded her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for three months to take care of her and she was constantly asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their success and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says Seutin.

Creation and Concepts

These reflections went into the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the idea for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out threads of her life story like memories, and references more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the players on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes various forms of dance she has learned over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (She passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to stand for what they believe in, expressing honesty,” says the choreographer. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” She wanted to adopt the same approach in this production. “We see dancing and hear melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that resonate. This is what I admire about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a way that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at the city, the dates